Quote:
Originally Posted by Shayne Parkinson
They can be, but that usage isn't common in modern English. "Tree" is an old word for shaft of a spear, or of a tool like a spade. The usage also survives (more or less) in compounds like axle-tree, but as cars replaced buggies and carts, "axle" more or less replaced "axle-tree".
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There's also the old compound "roof-tree", which was the main beam (or shaft) of a wooden roof that ran the length of the house and carried the greater part of the weight. Originally, obviously, it was essentially a tree that was used for it, probably only roughly dressed.